Gallery: Day of the Dead Inspires Star Wars Art

Denise Vasquez, who also writes music and acts, sculpted the Vinyl Dia de Los Muertos Darth Maul Bust.

Denise Vasquez' Vinyl Dia de Los Muertos Yoda Doll

Denise Vasquez used yarn for hair in her Vinyl Dia de Los Muertos Padme figure.

Randy Martinez, who produces illustrations for trading cards and various George Lucas projects, titled this piece Amidala.

Randy Martinez's Boba Fett painting.

This group portrait by Randy Martinez pictures the cast from Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope.

Randy Martinez's Han Solo

Randy Martinez's Darth Vader

It’s hard to find a fresh approach to Star Wars, but artist Denise Vasquez came up with a startling new take on Darth Vader, Yoda and company with a set of vinyl sculptures inspired by the Mexican holiday Day of the Dead.

“I love my Latin culture and I love Star Wars,” said Vasquez, who was raised in the Bronx by Puerto Rican grandparents and now lives in Los Angeles. “As soon as I made the decision to cross the two together, it just started coming through me.”

During a spring visit to Comic Con Mexico, Vasquez got fired up by the notion of blending skulls, crosses and other Dia de Los Muertos symbols with Star Wars iconography. When she returned home, Vasquez got to work on a Darth Vader helmet she’d salvaged from DKE Toys‘ warehouse containing Vader Project leftovers.

“I went into the zone for two weeks nonstop painting, beading, gluing,” Vasquez told Wired.com by phone. “I took a few naps in between. Diego Rivera is one of my favorite artists and I feel like I was channeling him a little bit, too.”

Vasquez’s sculptures, adorned with glow-in-the-dark paint, plastic flowers, beads and gemstones, will be displayed in Hold Up Art gallery’s Art From a Galaxy Far Far Away show in Los Angeles. Opening Saturday, the exhibition also features paintings by Lucasfilms illustrator Randy Martinez.

Check the gallery above for a sampling of masks, toy figures and paintings by the two artists featured in the show, which runs through Sept. 15.